Get ready to have your hearts broken, people. See, this is what happens when you follow a girl to the big city. She stomps on your heart and you end up slinging drinks at a nightclub as you drink your sorrows away…wait, aren’t you a minor? So, the bar is just shorthand for Angst, and he’s drinking juice boxes, right? Or has the show finally gone ahead and made him legal, to keep the world’s noonas from going to hell? You know what they say…the road to hell is paved with pretty boys.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

EPISODE 11 RECAP

We see Sam-dong relive the tragic kiss between his girl and his bestie. Gah, high school is so cruel sometimes. He goes to see the doctor (thank goodness) but it’s what we suspected all along…he’s losing his hearing. Noooo! The doctor gives him something to relieve the pain, but it’s a condition that can’t be cured. Double Nooooes!

He gets a haircut, because nothing says “I’m over you so you can’t have this anymore” than a Hottie Haircut. He even adds an I Can Be a Badboy Earring for good measure. Not that he’s actually over her, mind you. It’s just symbolic of his emotional trauma. And his budding hotness. Erm…I didn’t just say that.

As he walks through the streets, he thinks aloud to his mother in voiceover:

Sam-dong: Mother, you lied to me. You said that the heavens would only give me hardship I can handle. But that must not be true for me. The hardship I’m facing is unbearably heavy, and cruel. Mother, I’ve barely started, but I think I have to say farewell to my dreams. What am I supposed to do now?

Just grind up my heart and serve it to the dogs, why don’t you. There he cries, kneeling in the street, sobbing as his dreams come crashing down to earth.

At school, Oh-hyuk offers up his resignation, as promised. He asks Principal Shi to keep his promise about protecting the kids in exchange, and he ushers him out happily, with a goodbye hug in the heat of the moment.

Kyung-jin happens to walk in right at that moment, and stares agape. Her father explains that Oh-hyuk is finally leaving for good, at which she chases him down for an explanation. He doesn’t tell her about her father’s conditions, but just reminds her that he’s leaving his kids in her care now, and walks away.

Hye-mi gets a call from Top Entertainment, and heads to the offices where she runs into Baek-hee in the lobby. She gets offered a contract to join group K, and has till the end of the month to decide. She can’t believe this is happening, pinching her cheeks and knocking her head against a wall to make sure it’s not a dream, and heads home to ask Oh-hyuk about the contract.

He says that it’s a good contract, and seeing her smile giddily, he asks if she really wants to debut that badly. Hye-mi says that it’s because she can clear their debts this way. Oh-hyuk tells her not to debut then, if that’s the reason. He tells her that the terms of the debt are so flexible that it doesn’t even feel like a debt, and that debuting doesn’t necessarily equal big paychecks. He tells her to consider it carefully.

Hye-mi asks if anyone’s seen Sam-dong, and her sister tells her that he went back home for winter break, and said not to call for a while. Hye-mi goes up to his room, wondering aloud that still…he should’ve called. She doesn’t notice that he’s left her cell phone charm behind.

Sam-dong isn’t back home, but wandering the streets of Seoul in a daze. He follows the sound of music to a club, where he watches the concert full of mixed emotions. He cries, moved by the music and utterly broken at the prospect of never hearing it again.

He follows the sound of the beat to the amp, placing his hand on it to feel the vibration and hear it properly. He closes his eyes, and when he opens them, the club is empty.

In-sung finds him sitting there, and tells him not to tell anyone that he’s working there part-time. He asks why he’s not going home, and Sam-dong replies blankly that there’s no sound there, but here, there’s sound, and it doesn’t feel like it’s running away from him. Aw, you’re killing me.

Oh-hyuk stays up late sending out his resume while everyone else sleeps. Meanwhile, Group K has a meeting, and the agency sends Jason and Ria on a photo shoot in London over the winter break.

Jason tells him that he’s going to skip out on this one, since he’s enrolled in the special songwriting class over break, and he’s got Japanese class too. Jin-gook marvels at this new side of Jason, since no one’s ever seen him try hard at…well, anything. He even throws on a pair of glasses to signify that he’s going to be Brainy Chipmunk from now on.

Baek-hee sees that Jason’s attitude to study harder gets him in good with the agency president, so she raises her hand that she’ll be doing the same, and Ria follows suit as well.

At school, Pil-sook puts up Jason’s daily lollipop, and then notices something on her locker. Oh! Omo, is Jason finally reciprocating with candy of his very own? She gapes at a Japanese test taped to her locker, with a giant A+ on it. Omg, that’s so cute. It’s even better than candy! It’s nerdtastic!

She realizes that Jason’s put it there to show her that he’s getting his ass in gear, and she grins from ear to ear. Jason walks past her, trying to play it cool, and picks up his lollipop like it’s no big deal. Pil-sook jumps up and down to congratulate him, walking straight into a pillar mid-thumbs-up. Heh.

Jin-man waits around for Kyung-jin, finally working up the courage to ask her…if she’s seen Oh-hyuk. Keh. Not what she was expecting. Doo-shik shows up behind them, just in time to hear the news that Oh-hyuk resigned to protect his students from the showcase fallout.

It turns out that they have yet another eavesdropper, as Hye-mi walks up, stunned. She marches straight into the staff meeting to ask Principal Shi what he did to make Oh-hyuk quit, because she’s delightfully tactless that way.

He tells her that Oh-hyuk has had the lowest scoring students the entire time he’s been teaching at Kirin, making him the lowest scoring teacher (though I don’t understand why there’s a one-to-one correlation there, but whatever). Hye-mi reminds them that her class scored well on every exam, and the other teachers start to nod their heads in agreement.

But Kyung-jin steps in to tell her that their good scores don’t erase the years of bad ones, and ups the ante. If they can all gets A’s in the songwriting class, then they’ll acknowledge Oh-hyuk’s skills and Principal Shi will reconsider him.

Hye-mi accepts the challenge, adding that if they all get As, that means Oh-hyuk gets reinstated. Principal Shi grabs Kyung-jin aside, wondering why she’s undoing all his effort to get rid of Oh-hyuk. She makes excuses about credibility, either lying to cover up her feelings, or in a great big vat of denial about them.

Baek-hee gets called in by her agency president, who’s ready to cut her loose because her star’s not rising like the other members of the group. Baek-hee pleads on her last leg, saying that she’ll become the kind of performer that he wants, and that she’ll work on songwriting.

She begs him to reconsider, once she comes back with her scores from her songwriting class. Obviously it’s a way to manufacture stakes for this songwriting class, which is fine for dramatic purposes, but really, does the one class have to have everyone’s fate on the line?

Speaking of which, Hye-mi fills Pil-sook in on their stakes—all A’s to get Oh-hyuk back his job. Pil-sook stares agape, and then realizes that their ace Sam-dong is MIA. Hye-mi says she’ll just have to get him back, and tells Pil-sook to work on faking Sam-dong’s accent, so that they can at least get him past roll call until they get him here.

Pil-sook hilariously practices her saturi accent, as Jason listens from the next table over. Hye-mi calls Sam-dong’s mom, only to figure out that he’s not home at all…he’s disappeared.

They go to class, where Teacher Maeng introduces their songwriting teacher. (A cameo by Joo Young-hoon, Lee Yoon-mi‘s real-life husband, hence the inside jokes at the poor soul who has to live with her and the flashing of his wedding ring.)

He starts with roll call, and Hye-mi and Pil-sook share a moment of panic, and when the teacher calls Sam-dong’s name, Pil-sook squeaks out a tiny “Here.” The teacher calls for Sam-dong again, but this time Jason jumps in to save them. Aw. Pil-sook looks over at him, stunned, and he flashes her a smile.

Jin-man calls Oh-hyuk for the billionth time, yelling into his phone for him to just pick up. Oh-hyuk is busy taking English classes and giving little adult education classes in music, as he struggles to find a new job.

Baek-hee gets shopped around by her agent for publicity gigs, to no avail, so she digs her heels into songwriting. She struggles with it for a while, until she spies some sheet music sitting in the studio, and in her moment of desperation, she considers poaching a song. Oh, Baek-hee. If I could spoon-feed you some self-esteem, I would.

Meanwhile, Hye-mi goes out in search of Sam-dong, combing through every possible place he might be. She finally gets a call from In-sung, who figures out that something’s seriously wrong with Sam-dong, who’s become dark and angry.

Hye-mi rushes to the club to try and take him home, but he shakes her off and tells her to go. After the concert, she tries again, trying to take his hand and lead him out. She tells him that they need him to save Oh-hyuk. He shakes her off again, as he says, “You’re asking me to come with you again. Do you know what I’m thinking these days? A thousand, ten thousand times a day, I regret following you to Seoul.”

He tosses her hand aside angrily, as he stands up. “Why did I get off that stage and take your hand that day? Why did I believe your unbelievable lies? Why did I hear your song?! Why did I follow you…and end up crazy about music?” Oof.

He tells her to get lost and walks out, leaving her crying.

She heads home to find Oh-hyuk asleep on the couch, and wakes him up out of spite. She asks with tears welling up in her eyes how he could leave them like that, and if he only knew how hard she was trying, he’d never throw them away. She storms off and Oh-hyuk sighs to himself that he could never throw them away.

Hye-mi learns and takes notes diligently, and then shows up at Sam-dong’s club day after day to drop off her notes. He ignores her repeatedly and pushes her aside, but she tells him that she’s never going to give up, on him or on Oh-hyuk. Nice to see the tables turning in this relationship, and to hear her say what he used to say to her.

The songwriter teacher gives them their assignment—he hands them lyrics, called “Dreaming,” and tells them to write a song. Pil-sook and Hye-mi ponder how they’re supposed to write something that, as the teacher suggested, calls upon true emotions.

Kyung-jin sneaks up on them to suggest watching a movie or talking to adults, to help them figure out emotions that they might not have encountered yet. They wonder if she’s possibly helping them, and she sneaks back to assure them that she’s on their side this time, and she’s rooting for them to get A’s. Oh, you.

Hye-mi asks Jin-man for some help, so he starts to tell her the beautiful story about how he met his girlfriend, which quickly devolves into a bitchfest over how he sold his livelihood to buy her a ring but she didn’t understand the sacrifice. When he finishes his story, he realizes that Hye-mi’s long gone. Ha. The story’s soundtrack is Park Jin-young’s “너의 뒤에서” (Behind You), posted above. Cracks me up, this show.

Pil-sook finds a movie ticket taped to her locker with the words “For Studying Songwriting” written on it. She (very trustingly) goes to the movie by herself (which happens to be Love Story), and Jason sits down next to her, insisting that this is for research purposes only. Too cute.

She immediately starts jotting down the music in her head, inspired by her not-a-date. At home, Hye-mi finds inspiration in Sam-dong’s drawings, as she thinks about when they first met, and all the times he’s been there to save her. She starts writing her song.

Baek-hee struggles with her song, and in a moment of weakness, steals the song she found the other day. Oh, dear.

Hye-mi writes her song and goes to the club to give the assignment to Sam-dong, but this time he hides and tells In-sung to lie that he’s moved on to some other club. Hye-mi searches every single club in the neighborhood looking for him that night.

She gets accosted by some drunk guys who happen not to care that she’s a high school student (ew) but Sam-dong finally appears to save her, and get some of his aggression out at the same time. He reminds her that he said to get the hell out of his life.

Hye-mi: And I told you, I’m not giving up on you. When I hit rock bottom, you and Kang Teacher were the ones who pulled me up. Now it’s my turn.

She gives him the songwriting assignment, and then hands him the K pendant. (Awwww, yeah!) She tells him that she doesn’t really believe that the pendant brings good luck, but she hopes it does, for him.

He finally turns to her, and caresses her hair. Sam-dong: “I told you to go. You’re the one who came. Later you’ll come to regret this day.” Well that’s not ominous or anything.

Triumphant music starts to build, as Sam-dong sits at the keyboard and opens up the notebook. He finally puts his hands on the keys, and as the music swells, he starts composing.

The next day, they show up for the final class and turn in their songs. At the last moment, Sam-dong walks in, making Hye-mi silently squeal in delight. After grading their songs, the teacher announces the only three A’s: Pil-sook, whose song he describes as heartfelt and full of love, as if she’s dating right now (aw), Hye-mi, and Baek-hee.

He points out that Baek-hee’s was particularly professional-grade. Uh, that’d be because it is. The teacher also gives an honorable mention to Sam-dong’s song, which he describes as mature beyond his years, and full of sadness. He says that though he didn’t get an A, his song will be performed at the showcase with the other three.

Jin-gook seeks out Oh-hyuk at his ajumma trot class (wearing a sequined jacket, no less) and asks how he could turn his back on them. Oh-hyuk assures him that he’s never going to leave them, adding, “How could I, when I made that grandiose speech in front of everyone?” He assures him that he’ll find a way back.

To that end, the teachers present Principal Shi with the three finalists for Oh-hyuk’s replacement, chosen exactly as he requested, based on objective criteria alone. He’s shocked to find Oh-hyuk’s resume picture staring back at him. Oh-hyuk heads back to Kirin for his entrance interview.

Kyung-jin finds Baek-hee to ask her about the song. She notes that she’s been Baek-hee’s teacher for over a year, and she knows exactly the extent of Baek-hee’s skills, as well as the lengths she’ll go to win.

When she accuses her of plagiarizing the song, Baek-hee doesn’t even deny it. She asks defiantly, “So what if it is? You’re the one who taught me how.” Kyung-jin can’t abide this kind of cheating and reels at Baek-hee’s attitude, but Baek-hee reminds her that she’s the one who taught her to win at any cost, and looked the other way when she lied or sabotaged her competition.

She says that those were her first steps down this path, and now she’s taken ten steps without a second thought. Shaking with tears, she tells her teacher that she’s worked this hard to get where she is, but she’s about to be replaced by Hye-mi in group K, but she’ll die before she gives it up.

Around the corner, Hye-mi overhears the conversation, and gasps.

COMMENTS

Not as song- or dance-filled as yesterday’s episode, but this one was awesomely Sam-dong-centric, and full of delicious angst. I don’t want Sam-dong to go deaf, but I have to admit, it’s a pretty great arc for his character and Kim Soo-hyun has the emotional vulnerability and gravitas to pull it off. It’s poetic and tragic, and adds such great story weight to the dream-the-impossible-dream motif.

It’s also not hopelessly tragic, as this marks the major turning point in Sam-dong’s character, who needed to do a little maturing. He faces the truth for the first time, and though it’s a dark turn, it’s a necessary kick in the pants, for him to grow up.

What’s nice is seeing Hye-mi come to his rescue for the first time, and chase him the way he used to chase her. While I miss the puppy dog cuteness, I do enjoy the reversal. Let’s have Hye-mi miss him a little more, and come to her senses about his newfound broody hotness.

I have the sneaking suspicion that Park Jin-young is somehow running away with each show on purpose, but I can’t be annoyed because he’s just hilarious. I have this vision of Dream High turning into Saved By the Bell: The New Class, where he’s Mr. Belding. Or is that just his real life, as JYP?

Can I also tell you, my new favorite thing is Pil-sook and Hye-mi as BFFs? Adorable.

he looks more bad asss~~ which is always soo hot.. its funny cuz for a second i thought he pierced his lip too but it turns out it was just a little smudge on my screen LOL

haha that was a relief tho …i thought he would turn into some emo punk guy haha and to be honest im sick of looking at emo punk guys lately it seems like my school is full of them gahd bring on the cheerful people~~~

oh my holly macaroni…where is the cute, adorable, innocent, pure samdong!!! i miss the old him, thanks a lot hyemi, now the cute and adorable samdong got replaced by the new one….good going hyemi if you didn’t kiss that guy he wouldn’t be like this LOL

It will most likely be a happy ending, i mean come on, this isn’t a melodrama. Everyone’s ending is going to happily be wrapped up in a nice little bow. I’m sure somehow some way sam dong’s going to have a happy ending although at this moment, i can’t think of how they could possibly let him lose his hearing and have a happy ending :'(

SAM DONG. my heart cries for him. getting robbed of his music and his girl at the same night… so sad. yet… when he was feeling that amp… well. geniuses don’t exist for no reason right? he can do it! he can get the girl and become the top singer!
although i worry if he really does turn deaf… will that affect hyemi’s decision. i don’t think she would turn against him but she might choose him before she gets real feelings and guilt mixed up.
on the other hand, jason working hard to get in pilsook’s good side once more. ADORABLE. i think later on… i might just dump my dream guy, we’ll see how well that goes in real life.

i feel like hyemi will turn down the contract for group K.
a way of apologizing to baekhee for the auditions.
and then baekhee will yell at her be mad at her but in the end thank her.
and their relationship will be semi restored.
i hope so… cuz thats how my relationship turned out ^.^ lol

if the road to hell is paved with pretty boys liek KSH— where do i sign up?!?!?

man, JB said yesterday that she thinks the opposites-attract theme that has been running consistently throughout the characters is proof that it might still eventually be a SamMi pairing, and i hope so too!!! THE ANGST!! IT KILLS!!!!!!! and KSH is so PRESENT in his acting that i can’t help but just go O_O –> T_T when he’s doing his brooding thing. hello country, meet passive aggressiveness.

you know what i wanna see though?? BH jealousy over HyeMi and PilSook being BFFs… if i were BH, i’d be kiiiinda majorly upset coz that’s how i would’ve liked HyeMi to have treated me.. i hope they go there.

great recaps as per usual, GF! +11 bajillion points for the saved by the bell reference. how cool are you?

Ahh so much angst and darkness surrounds our SD now. But I like the range of emotions he’s going through and KSH is going a really good job of portraying the anger and hurt SD has to be feeling.

Now that the triangle has resolved (in my opinion) and its pretty clear that SD is K (he even has the pendent now), I just really want to know how he’s going to get there. Also, modern medical miracle surgery to the rescue please Show?!??

Also, I think its b/c of watching glee right after watching DH today, but the shows are super similar. High school, big cast, embattled teacher and the music of course. BUT, it got me thinking about a sequel!! New class, new characters, same great crack? The set cost close to a million dollars to build, why not keep using it?

Haha. I think Dream High is better than Glee. I quit watching it in the middle of the first season. I just couldn’t handle it…I liked the songs though. I can never finish an American TV production for some reason…Asian or European I can, but American…nope!

Now, Dream High. This one’s a different animal altogether. It’s well rounded and the cast and personalities are so much better and more hilarious than Glee…it also deals with deeper issues than Glee. Ones I can really get behind on. I really hope Dream High gets the attention it deserves from the West…and not just for the Glee comparison/similarities.

dear valentine,
this year, i’d like a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils, please and couple glasses for you an me. also, instead of candy, i’d like proof that you’re actually listening to me and that my comments about your underachieving matter to you, because I matter to you.

It’s hard to believe, I am still a GookMi shipper. But from the very beginning, I had a feelings things will turn out this way. Hyemi wrote a song based on how she felt towards Samdong, doesn’t that say enough?

As much as I like the GookMi couple, I feel that Samdong and Hyemi are perfect for each other now. Helping each other when they are at the bottom =D. It screams, COUPLE to me, hehe.

AND OMG Jason with his nerdy glasses. I like the date. Ahaha if only that happened to me during high school (of course with the guy I like).

Yeah, script writers amazed me, nice balance and Samdong is getting the screen time he needed! I love his angst. I can’t wait till next week. Now, I am more interested in Samdong’s story line!

I agree!! She making a song thinking in him, in my opinion also shows how much she cares for him.

I’m so curious to hear the song. I mean it was made thinking in SD he has to know that!

I still think the duet they sang in the earlier episodes is for HM. She doesn’t know but she felt in love with him

As for JG and HM, so strange, I got it was a SD episode but had no JG and HM scenes at all, just weird, if you consider that now all things are solved and they are together. But maybe she was too worried with SD to care to phone JG LOL.

My thoughts exactly. JG and HM shared a KISS in the previous episode that was witnessed by the 3rd person of this love triangle. Why the lack of interaction in this episode?

Just odd that they (writers) didn’t explore or at least continue with what they started like they did with PS/Jason. Even if you’re not wanting to develop JG/HM, you shouldn’t completely ignore it in the very next episode. Makes me go o.O

As much as I want to root for SD/HM, I just can’t buy into HM finding him more of than just a friend. There’s no angst with or lack of interaction with JG to imply otherwise. It’s not like she ignored JG to look for SD (at least they didn’t show it) or that she was wavered at his dissappearance. It also could be Suzy’s acting not coming across as the character should be?

Anyways, thank you GF! Your recaps help me understand the story more (even after watching with subs).

the nice thing about this drama is that the main leads are dynamic personalities, since it lends some realism to their characters.

at this point, i don’t think baek hee is particularly evil. her poor decisions are a consequence of her low self-esteem. when she feels that her abilities are challenged, she retaliates by giving her opponent a handicap. i don’t think she absolutely hates hyemi, since she decided to sneak her the snack in japan, but she does consider her a rival.

it’s interesting that she would choose to lower her opponent’s fortunes to ensure her own, since that says how little she believes in her own ability, but then again, she has spent a good amount her life under this image of herself.

jason, i was starting to find boring, despite all the cute. because of pilsook, i’m starting to see him as the one person who doesn’t really belong in this consistent group of kids who set their dreams high but weren’t ready to confront their dreams before all this tension. with her family crisis, even hyemi’s seemingly realistic dream of a professional singer is drifting away. jason has somewhat of a direction that he is heading in, but is not as spurred to work harder to improve his potential. it would be nice to see even more layers to his character, as much as hyemi, who is battling on fronts of trust, prejudice, love, and staying true to her dream. But I suppose there is a time constraint to cover the bases for all their characters.

As for ships, I’m still aboard the JG-HM one, although I’ve prepared a lifeboat in case this ever goes down, since I can see that SD-HM is also very logical, and it really depends on the turn of events from now on. I think JG and HM have a way of understanding each other that could make for a very good friendship, but there are moments when that mutual understanding allows romantic progress that’s cute considering those days when they came into conflict with each other for trivial reasons. I can see how SD and HM are going in that direction too, though it’s very “chummy friend” status right now.

i agree with you so much on the jason character development. i hope the writer have some kind of twist in store for him, because he’s the only one out of the 6 characters that hasn’t been quite delved into yet. desperately wanting a background story as to why he’s even in korea attending school to become idol when he’s that uninterested of everything.

i dont understand how the teacher had time to read sam dong’s song before announcing all the A’s…did he say something like “at first, i didnt even want to give it a passing grade, but the more i looked at it the more i appreciated it.” is that bc he turned it in late?

but yay! looks like sam dong has a fighting chance for love. evidence: he’s had a chance to be a jerk to the girl + hye mi thought of him while writing her song =D

LOOOOOL so hard, that wehn i was reading this, i was literally nodding vigorously, like, “yup. yup. exactly. EXACTLY.” hahahaha! kdrama law says so!!
man, we should all unite our powers and write a book listing down all the laws of kdrama!! LOL

im basically just saying what everyone before me has said, BUT I TOTALLY HAVE TO AGREE. definitely a valid k-drama law. wish real life were that way, then all the ppl who were jerks to each other would end up together n there would be no more wars n WORLD PEACE. loool, am i getting carried away or waaaaat?

26 beeFebruary 8th, 2011 at 9:23 PM

1. SAMDONG ): MY HEART IS BROKEN. IT SHATTERED. ITS ALL OVER THE FLOOR. aside: has anyone seen the wong fu music video for the song called “Drift Away?” Whenever Samdong is on-screen I think of that video (it’s about a kid who loves music and he goes deaf. So sad.)

2. Baekhee needs to own up to her own shit, man. First she blamed Hyemi for making her that way, and now she’s blaming the teacher? Girl needs to grow up.

Mmm…. MiGook ship starts to crack at the bottom in this episode. Don’t tell me, I don’t warn you soon enough, MiGook shippers!!

Oh Jingook, Jingook, tsk tsk you couldn’t give your girl a word of wisdom and now not even a single moment of happy memories for her to think when she is composing. So much with the emotional connection called ‘crying’, eh?

Did I mention that KSH is the main lead? The show reserves the best for the last. Well we all know what that means, right? The girl and the glory are all his!

Awww my heart is hurting so much for Sam Dong-ah I don’t remember the last time I cry so much over a drama or a movie. At the beginning I cried because I felt his pain for losing his love and his hearing and after I just cry every time I saw him because I miss the joyful happy-go-lucky Sam Dong. Yes he looks uber hot with his new look but still I miss the old him.
And am I the only one worried about this:” Sam-dong: “I told you to go. You’re the one who came. Later you’ll come to regret this day.” I mean it sounds really serious I just hope they don’t take the dark Sam Dong thing too far =( . Still it was a great episode can’t hardly wait for next monday!

And it makes me want to SMACK Samdong, the character, and tell him snap out of it, Cher a la Moonstruck.

Kim Soo Hyun the actor is truly fabulous. I love that, even during his puppy dog Samdong moments, he managed to convey just the slightest hint of the dangerous intensity Samdong could be capable of, because of his simplistic way of thinking. I don’t know if anyone else had picked up on it previously, but I definitely saw red flags along the way. That KSH can embody that sort of duality, truly fantastic.

That’s exactly how i took it. Seems logical that way. But that could just be me denying that it could be far worse. Kdramas….you know. TT

And SamDong gave me the chills this episode. Felt like he could do something crazy at any moment. And when he showed intensity, I could still see the sadness and his longing for HaeMi. Man, I’m such a sucker for characters that start out cheery, but then take a dark turn….Because it’ll be so epic and sweet when they overcome their darkness and flash a smile again.

And, I’m not going to lie, I kind of miss fun, upbeat, carefree Sam Dong because he was just so adorable and happy (and he has a beautiful smile which I didn’t see at all this episode), but I’m glad he’s maturing a little and that Kim Soo Hyun gets to show off his fantastic acting skills.

I’m also happy that this episode centered less around Jin Guk because his character annoys me…

Great episode. I love that SD is finally getting some major screen time. It is long overdue. The scene where he cried at the concert really killed. His acting was so well layered with emotions. Although I don’t really understand when he said to HM that she might regret this one day. What is he referring to?

I’m also glad that SD didn’t get an A. That would be such an easy way for Teacher Kang to come back. I love that he’s also maturing to fight for his own dream. I remember that during the 1st couple of episodes, he was running away from everything. But now, Teacher Kang is also fighting and working hard for his own dream, along with the kids!! Fighting!!

just one thing i have to say:
dream high is giving me the biggest pain of second lead syndrome EVER (that is, if samdong is the second lead, which i’m pretty sure he is after 10 episodes of building up the hyemi – jinhyuk relationship).

way more painful than sungkyunkwan scandal or any other drama i’ve ever watched.

Sam-dong just got more awesome (ooh, earring. I didn’t even know he had ear holes. Or is it just a clip on…). It’s strange how people are always happening to be in the right place at the wrong time (depending on point of view); Kyung-jin happens to find out about Oh-hyuk’s dismissal, Hye-mi happens to find out about it too, and she also happens to be there when Kyung-jin confronts Baek-hee about plagiarizing. Does everyone happen to be in earshot or what?
Pil-sook and Jason are still very adorable, I think I enjoy them fooling around more nonchalantly rather than getting in a relationship, but whatever, they rock.

thanks for the recap For a blast of moment i don’t think i will continue watching this drama because of your opening. I’m a fan of Sam Dong kkk. For me the chemistry between SD – HM is more real than JG – HM. I hope they will end up together ^^

Baek hee is such a tragic character. She started off weak and she hasn’t grown at all since then. I hope something changes for her soon. At this rate i feel like the writers are going to cope out and have Hye-Mi apologize and be the sole source of Baek hee’s confidence.

It is just me I thought but I’m feeling really bad for Baek hee.She has look,voice and hard working but still replaced by Hye mi.I don’t know why I can’t feel empathy for Hye Mi.She has two hot guys chasing after her,outstanding voice and everyone take care of her.What did Baek Hee do that she has to be neglected,GF?She just want to be a star.Jin-gook is so cruel.She looked out for him after his father abandoned him but he doesn’t care her at all.She met a misguided teacher,a terrible one-sided love and one hell of a frenemy.Why did all the k-drama writer made all the second lead male be a knight in shining armor and second lead female be a bitch?I just haven’t noticed until I’m in DH for Baek Hee.Go,girl even u’re evil,I’m rooting for u.I’ll obey ur choice but let her at least be with that Jin-gook bastard in the end as the consolation prize.She has no one and that’s why she’s so misreable.I want someone to warm her heart and be a good and lovely girl.

yeah super agree…i really pity her character,the script is totally unfair..everyone end up hating BH because of her character..HM is the one who abandoned her first,being mean to her…but in the end,HM just got everything..although i’m only watched DH for iu and woou couple,but i really don’t like how they make BH turns into a bit*h

that was hilarious. i agree as well, i really like baek-hee as a character and i just detest jin-gook. If he was played by a fantastic actor i might like him but he just sickeningly reminds me of ji-hoo from BoF… as a guy i just hate it how a guy is just too perfect. i actually want hye-mi and j-g to get together and sam-dong to get someone he truly deserves… maybe a remade baek-hee who is a real star

I have a feeling that Samdong and Baekhee are going to end up together :S…i donno y, but i think so as the cell phone thingy that samdong is holding onto that was given by hyemi really belonged to beakhee.

i mean the first time samdong and hyemi met in the country, samdong took that from hyemi and hyemi never really wanted it in the first place when baekhee had giveen it to her.

KSH was soo good that im tearing up in the first minutes of the show. you can really feel his pain and loss. though he needs to fall to be able to stand up stronger i really dont want him deaf. it kills me. cant he be not deaf be K and get the girl he deserves? arghhh

oh and the milky couple scenes were so cute. in their not date. their scenes are so cute

i really like this episode! although i love SD as the cute innocent pure guy but i likt how there’s this turning point in his life. out of this too, we get to see HM remember all those times he was there for her. i’m sooo hoping this is the start of her liking him, which seems so already she just doesn’t know it yet.

pil-sook and jason are just the cutest together! it was the cutest how he taped that A+ test on her locker. or the “this is not a date” date.

back to SD and HM, when he came back to the class, did you see how happy HM was?!? i’m glad this time she’s chasing him after all those time he’s chased her. i do hope he become his happy lovable self again… and SD’s song is gonna get played at the showcase that should count! darn you principle! ah question though, if BH stole that song and it’s played at the showcase wouldn’t the writer of that song recognize it?

with HM hearing about the plagiarism, maybe she’ll won’t accept being a part of K. ugh can’t believe we have to wait till next week!

HM and PS’s being BFFs is the cutest. i’m glad HM is being a better friend this time.

Kim Soo-hyun is awesome. Maybe this is exaggerated, but a tear or two came out when she arrives for the first time at the club and the camera focus him. I don’t know, it just hit me. He looked so melancholic and sad.

I agree, he looks so hot. A hair cut can do wonders. Or ruin a person´s look.
*Cough* Yoon-ju in My Princess *cough*

I don’t know what they are going to do. This time, I don’t mind plot holes, sudden miracles, absent logic…as long as Sam-dong doesn’t go deaf.

The bad thing of watching this at my school in my free time is that I almost cried when he cries in the street and almost squeal loud when I saw the candy/exam on the locker and the nerd Jason trying to be better. But I was surrounded by another students waiting to enter to the lab and I had to go to mine, so in my house I squealed and cried comfortably.

agreed. and does anyone know what the song playing in the club is?? the first one, that sam-dong followed into the club. OMG, that is one haunting song, plus sam-dong’s EXPRESSION. i could feel the ice-splinters piercing my heart

DO TELL ME THE NAME OF THAT SONG, ANYONE! PLEASE, coz i cant seem to find it mentioned anywhere, and its not in the ost album either

Well… I missed my sweetie Taec this ep, but as things turn around, it was good to see Samdong change his role and know how much his presence reallly is missed by Hyemi. The milky couple? So adorable! And poor Baek? Girlfriend is just at a lost for words.

FYI, Pilsook walking Ito the pillar with her thumb up s q PM reference. When she does that, 2PM’s “I’ll Be Back” randomly comes on. The choreography for that song involves sticking a thumbs up into the air and hen slowly lowering it.
I love the girls’ friendship too. Good for the both of hem, when they used tobhavno friends.
Noooo Samdong! Generally in dramas, the bigger actors-> bigger characters -> more likely to be the hero, right? So usually I can guess at who will get the girl bc of fame or screentime. It’s so hard to predict for Dream Hish hough? Kim Soohyun isn’t much more experienced than Taecyeon and he isn’t as famous, although Soohyuns the real actor and Taecyeon is the idol boy.
I’m trying to convince myself that sanding will win. Taecyeon has less screentime than Samdong these days. And hyemi wrote her song thinking about Samdong. Also for once I’d like to see a kid without the daddy angst and money issues be the hero.

PM reference. When she does that, 2PM’s “I’ll Be Back” randomly comes on. The choreography for that song involves sticking a thumbs up into the air and hen slowly lowering it.
Makes me wish I cared more about Kpop idol groups. Nice meta.

i’ve actually been listening to more idol kpop nowadays, coz crack high keeps me wanting for more!!! i’ve discovered, big bang and suju and gdragon and top and siwon (si, viola! LOL) and snsd and sandar and that VISIT SEOUL song from 2pm and snsd thjat i can’t get out of my head!!!!!!!!!

But I love how Hye-mi is reaching out. They’ve really worked on her character development well. She isn’t suddenly Miss Nice Nice. She still is proud, sometimes stiff, etc. Yet, she is so protective of Pil-sook in some ways. Pil-sook knows Hye-mi cares for her despite how she can be cold and it’s obvious the friendship is there. She goes EVERY DAY to give stuff to Sam Dong. She cares about Oh Hyuk. She’s just…showing how she’s changing, bit by big. And I love how the script did that logically. I love how she’s changing and improving (both I Mean, Hye-mi wise and Suzy wise)

LOL. I think some people wanted to hate Hye-mi (not really, really really hate you know, but like go “Why brea puppy’s heart?!”) but after seeing how breaking puppy’s heart makes him so much hotter….

I mean, I was a GookMi shipper at the beginning cuz iono the fate thing. But I always thought it would end Samdong/Hyemi because the promo pics have them together the most. But then I started doubting it in the past few eps. But this eps has me thinking it again. And starting from about three episodes ago when GookMi just wasn’t getting me anymore…I really want it this way. lol.

And Pilsook/Jason, can I just saw AWWWWWWW. This is pure love right there

And I LOVE Pilsook/Hye-mi friendship, I just have to mention again. Loving it.

KSH is totally hot! that haircut just remind me of his character in Giant… fuhhhh~~~ sobs! he’s loosing his hearing. it’s tragic but i think it will be such a great plot and KSH gonna rock it.

Jason-Pil Suk are adorbs to the max. i laughed my ass out during the I’ll Be Back’s scene! that was so epic k! and i love how Jason is annoyingly cute when he still doesn’t want to admit he likes Pil Suk, and how he keeps mentioning it isn’t a date but it is for their assignment purposes…

what i love bout DH, how the writer makes us wonder who Hyemi gonna end with! from episode 1-10, the plot seems more focused on Jinguk character but i think starting from episode 11, Sam Dong’s character will be the center of the story!